The race continues for top spot in the South

The Canmore Eagles could have put themselves in position to be the team to catch but were unable to capitalize on the opportunity in posting one win and one loss over the past four days.

The Eagles defeated the Calgary Canucks 4-2 on Friday (Jan. 16) and lost 6-1 to the Bonnyville Pontiacs on Monday (Jan. 19).

Friday’s victory put Canmore within a single point of the two teams that share first place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League South Division at 40 points: Camrose Kodiaks (19-14-2-0) and Drumheller Dragons (17-15-2-4).

Camrose and Drumheller struggled on weekend. The Kodiaks split a home-and-home series with the Lloydminster Bobcats. The Dragons managed just a single point in two games at the Grande Prairie Storm.

A victory on Monday would have given Canmore first place in the South, however the Eagles (19-15-1-0) stay on 39 points and remain third for another week.

Calgary (18-15-1-0) is fourth on 37 points following up the loss to Canmore with an 8-4 win over the Drayton Valley Thunder on Saturday.

Cohen Daoust led Canmore in Friday’s victory with one goal and three assists to stretch his consecutive points streak to 10 games (7G-17A). That streak came to end in Monday’s loss.  The St. Albert native is fifth in league scoring with 53 points (32G-31A).

Hudson Landmark also saw his nine-game points streak end Monday. He had registered 14 points (6G-8A) during the span.

One player that continued his hot streak was Aidan Tkachuk, who picked up an assist in the loss to Bonnyville and has 18 points (9G-9A) over his last eight games. The Calgary native is eighth in league scoring with 47 points (20G-27A).

The next chance for the Eagles to try and claim top spot in the division is this coming weekend with a road trip that features three games in three days and goes through Camrose on Friday, Jan. 23, Drayton Valley on Saturday, Jan. 24 and Devon on Sunday, Jan. 24.

Alex Scheiwiller made 39 saves as Canmore stayed within touching distance of first place in the South Division.

The Eagles’ top line combined for eight points en route to leading their team to a 4-0 lead led by Daoust’s four-point game. Tkachuk scored twice to get to 20 goals on the season. Landmark scored his 10th goal and picked up an assist.

Canmore held period leads of 1-0 and 3-0.

Calgary got back into the game on a power-play goal by Connor Radke (18) and then a goal by Nicholas Anisimovicz (15). The Canucks would pull their goaltender with just over three minutes remaining and kept the pressure on the Eagles right up to the final buzzer.

Calgary outshot Canmore 45-39 with former WHL’er Dimitri Fortin making his debut in the Calgary net.

Both teams were 1-for-3 on the power play.

In November, the AJHL announced it would hold a mid-season Showcase, bringing all its teams to a central location – well two locations for this year’s edition: Red Deer and Edmonton.

For Canmore and Bonnyville this was their game as each South Division squad would be pitted against a North Division team, adding a 55th game to each team’s schedule.

Played at the Marchant Crane Centrium in Red Deer, home to the WHL Rebels, the Pontiacs were at full power while the Eagles failed to take flight.

The league’s leading scorer, Maxwell Pendy (20) opened the scoring at 10:02. The Far Hills, N.J. native would add an assist in the game to go to 62 points on the season.

The shots were 15-3 for the Pontiacs in the first period with Owen Mastrianni (6) getting the Eagles on the board at 16:53 to tie the score at 1-1.

In the second period, it was all Bonnyville with two goals by Brent Hoshowski (5-6), and singles by Deegan Kinniburgh (8) and Christophe Lussier (24) opening a 5-1 lead.

Malcolm Baar (5) completed the scoring with a late third-period goal.

Bonnyville outshot Canmore 46-14 with Nathan Salisbury (14-10/3.24/.900) in goal for the Pontiacs, and Scheiwiller (13-10/3.05/.916) in goal for the Eagles.

On the power play, Bonnyville was 1-for-7 while Canmore went 0-for-1.

The Showcase continues Tuesday (Jan. 20) with key games featuring Drumheller taking on Devon and Calgary versus Fort McMurray, both games are in Red Deer. On Wednesday (Jan. 21), Camrose plays the No. 1 overall Whitecourt Wolverines in Edmonton.

OVERTIME: Missing out on the Showcase were still suspended players Miller Komarniski and Carter Kowalyk along with injured players Gus Schill (leg), Reid Larson (hand) and Casey Black (shoulder). … Can’t get to a game in person because it’s sold out – Friday’s announced attendance was 884 fans – all AJHL games can be viewed with a flohockey.tv subscription. … The Canmore Eagles are always in need of more volunteers to help with game day experiences whether you are new to the game or an avid hockey supporter, email info@canmoreeagles.com for more information on opportunities and game-day perks that come with being part of the Game Day Crew.